


escaping the jaws of the alien

by ShowMeAHero



Series: slam fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched [4]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Babies, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Halloween, Kid Fic, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 02:35:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21263684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: Eddie's not entirely sure why he trusts Richie with their Halloween costumes, because he's trusted Richie with their Halloween costumes foryearsand it has neveronceworked out the way it would've if he had made the choice."It's because you'd forget to get the costumes because you're allergic to fun," Richie reminds him, tossing him a plastic bag with his costume pieces in it. "Now, put that on, then come back and lemme do your hair."





	escaping the jaws of the alien

**Author's Note:**

> I let my Twitter followers suggest details to include in the story for me to post (literally) in the eleventh hour before Halloween ends.
> 
> Happy Halloween!!
> 
> Title taken from ["Thriller"](https://youtu.be/xIx_HbmRnQY) by Michael Jackson.

Eddie's not entirely sure why he trusts Richie with their Halloween costumes, because he's trusted Richie with their Halloween costumes for  _ years  _ and it has never _once_ worked out the way it would've if he had made the choice.

"It's because you'd forget to get the costumes because you're allergic to fun," Richie reminds him, tossing him a plastic bag with his costume pieces in it. "Now, put that on, then come back and lemme do your hair."

Eddie does, because it's one hour before trick-or-treating  _ on  _ Halloween and he doesn't have time to argue. He goes into their bedroom to change into the loose grey suit Richie picked out for him. He looks it over in the mirror, frowning, still not positive what Richie's plan is. In the end, he gives up on guessing and goes to find Richie.

He groans when he sees Richie in his stupid wig and baseball hat, one arm spread, the other arm holding Gabe up on his hip. Richie's dressed like Wayne and Gabe's dressed like Garth. Eddie looks at himself in the mirror by the door and groans again. "God,  _ no,  _ why am I Rob Lowe?"

"Because he plays a smarmy producer guy and you  _ look _ like a smarmy producer guy," Richie tells him. "I don't know what to tell you, pipsqueak, but you've got  _ major  _ short shit syndrome—"

"I'm going to  _ waste  _ you," Eddie threatens. "What the fuck did you put Leah in?"

Richie passes Gabe off and lifts Leah up out of her bassinet, showing her off to Richie. She's mostly asleep, but Richie turns her anyways, showing off her little guitar costume.

"I was gonna dress her up as the girl, but I felt weird putting a baby in a red dress like that, and then I thought, guitar," Richie says. He pretends to strum across her forehead before kissing her on the nose and putting her back down in the bassinet. "Saves me a prop, too."

"Goddamnit, I got the worst one," Eddie complains. Gabe buries his face in Eddie's throat, but he goes willingly when Richie reaches for him.

"You also look hot as hell," Richie says. Eddie holds up his hands, the long sleeves falling over his fingers. Richie stifles a laugh. "Okay, so, you're a  _ little—" _

"I don't want to hear how that's gonna end," Eddie warns. Richie sits Gabe down on the sofa.

"Stay there, shortcake," Richie says. Gabe folds his hands across his lap obediently and beams up at him, all big glasses and his dumb blonde wig. He's looking more and more like Richie did as a kid the older he gets; sometimes, like now, with the giant shit-eating grin on his face, he's the spitting image of a younger Richie.

"What are you doing?" Eddie asks, because Richie grabbed a jar of something while he was distracted and he's approaching much too quickly.

"He's got his hair slicked back," Richie reminds him. "I have to slick your hair back—"

"Richie,  _ no,  _ I'm going to look like a white nationalist—"

"The gay man with his husband and their two children will  _ not  _ look like a white nationalist," Richie assures him, "you big baby. Now, stop trying to get away from me and just  _ hold still." _

He does, because it's not the worst costume and Richie scratches his scalp a little on the first couple passes with the gel, so, it's nice. Gabe only follows his instructions for the first couple of minutes before he shimmies himself off the sofa onto the floor and comes over to attempt to scale Richie's back. He falls off twice, making Eddie jump, but eventually he gets to Richie's lower back and he pulls away from Eddie, laughing.

"Alright,  _ alright,  _ you fucking monkey, chill out," Richie says. He grabs a handful of tissues off one of the three tissue boxes Eddie has in the living room to clean off his hands before he scoops Gabe up and deposits him on his own shoulders. He spins to lift Leah up and hold her against his chest, then turns to Eddie. "Ta-da! Get over here, Eds Spagheds, come look at your family in the mirror."

Eddie goes, faux-begrudgingly, and lets Richie drape an arm over him and turn him towards the mirror. Richie's done a great job with the costumes, as always, he has to admit, and he's incredibly self-satisfied looking at  _ his  _ family in the mirror.

"I think we're ready to go," Richie declares. He kisses the top of Eddie's head.  _ "Ugh.  _ Look at you.  _ Adorable." _

"Am I  _ supposed  _ to look adorable?" Eddie deadpans. Richie scrunched up his nose and presses their foreheads together; Eddie laughs.

"It's  _ impossible  _ for you to look anything but," Richie tells him. "Mm.  _ Ugh.  _ Look at you. Cute, cute,  _ cute." _

"Keep it in your pants, Rich," Eddie says, still laughing, shoving Richie off of him. "If we wanna meet up with everyone on time—"

"Hey, I'm a  _ responsible  _ adult and father," Richie defends. He holds Leah up to his face level. "Right, squirt?  _ Right—" _

"I said it with Gabe and I'll say it again with her,  _ no Voices,"  _ Eddie says firmly. Richie sticks his tongue out at Leah.

"Dad's no fun, huh?" Richie asks her, before leaning in and blowing a raspberry on her cheek. "Alright, we're ready, let's  _ roll." _

"Rock and roll!" Gabe exclaims. He holds his fists in the air, then frowns and says, "Daddy, we forgot my drumsticks."

Richie snaps his fingers. "I  _ knew _ I was forgetting something."

It takes half a dozen similar reminders before they're finally ready to leave. They're going to Stan's neighborhood to trick-or-treat, because he's assured them all it's a great area for it. Eddie's scouted it out numerous times, and has their route down to a scheduled science.

"Well, well, well, look who it is," Stan says, as soon as they arrive. He and Patty are dressed as Adam and Barbara Maitland, and, Eddie thinks, are pulling it off. He opens his arms, and Gabe goes to him immediately, squealing with delight.

"He should've done a family costume with  _ you,  _ since he'll probably end up with you the whole night," Richie says. He's bouncing Leah back and forth gently, a swaying motion he doesn't even seem to be aware of.

"We should just do a group costume next year," Beverly suggests. Ben and Bev are dressed like Fred and a visibly-pregnant adaptation of Daphne from  _ Scooby Doo, _ and they both, regretfully, look  _ very _ hot, not that Eddie would ever say anything. Eddie feels like a goblin in an oversized suit next to them.

"I'd be in on that," Bill says. He and Mike are dressed as Zero and Gustave, respectively, from  _ The Grand Budapest Hotel.  _ Eddie's not even sure how to begin explaining these costumes to Gabe.

"I _love _this, though," Bev comments, motioning in Richie and Eddie's general direction. "I'm excited for family costumes."

"Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet," Richie says. He points to Gabe. "Just like we practiced, shortcake."

Gabe hesitates for a split second before his face breaks into a grin and he throws one fist in the air. "Party time! Excellent!"

Richie claps his hands together, shouts, _"That's _my boy!" while their friends laugh. Eddie hasn't seen them do this yet, and he's incredibly endeared while simultaneously desperately trying not to look so fucking besotted. Luckily, Richie's the one who saves him.

"Alright, let's get a move on, all the good shit's gonna be gone," Richie says, clapping his hands together. To Eddie's surprise, Gabe wriggles out of Stan's hold and goes back to Richie, grabbing his hand. "Don't you wanna hang with Uncle Stan, my man?"

"Our costume goes together," Gabe reminds him, like he's stupid. Richie grins.

"Silly me," Richie says. He looks up at Eddie and mouths,  _ Go figure,  _ and Eddie laughs.

Richie has to stretch to properly hold Gabe's hand, but he does it. Stan, at Gabe's polite request, is holding Gabe's candy bag for him, so Eddie's got his other hand and every now and then he jumps, trusting Richie and Eddie to hold onto him as he swings through the air.

"Can we do this again tomorrow, too?" Gabe asks, leaving a house where a woman in a blood-spattered zombie costume gave him a full-sized Hershey bar.

"Nah, but maybe we can do it next year," Richie tells him.

"But maybe  _ not?"  _ Gabe asks, concerned. Richie shrugs.

"Up to your dad," he says, and Gabe whirls on Eddie.

"Daddy,  _ please  _ let there be Halloween next year," Gabe begs.

"I'm not sure I've got that authority," Eddie says, and Gabe's face crumples.

"Aw, you're not gonna let him have Halloween? That's just cruel," Stan teases.

"We can have Halloween," Eddie says dryly. Gabe cheers, and Eddie rolls his eyes, but he catches Richie smiling at him and has to turn away so he's not caught smiling back.

Eddie should've figured it wouldn't be perfect  _ all  _ night, but he truly wasn't expecting to get spooked the way he was, which was while he was looking down and talking to Gabe. Gabe turns to look at someone passing by them, and  _ he  _ smiles, but when Richie looks up, all the blood drains from his face. Heart pounding, Eddie whirls to see who's behind him, and there's a clown no less than two feet from them. Eddie stands in front of Gabe, pushing Richie and Leah behind himself.

"Fuck off," Eddie snarls, arms spread. He feels like his heart is in his throat. The clown, of course, frowns at him, because he's fucking  _ obviously  _ just a dude  _ dressed  _ as a clown, but he's with a big group of people dressed as clowns and he feels his fight-or-flight activate.

"Holy fuck," he hears Richie breathe behind him.

"What the hell, man?" the clown closest to Eddie demands. Ben steps in between them.

"Sorry, we thought you were someone else," Ben says to the guy, before he turns to Eddie and says, "Let's go, man."

Eddie pauses for a long moment before he nods, forcing his body to relax enough to let him move. He turns back around and scoops Gabe up off the ground, holding him close against his chest and cradling him, one hand cupping the back of his head as he inhales the scent of his soap. He kisses Gabe on the cheek, then exhales.

"Who was that?" Gabe asks.

"Nobody," Eddie says. "A bad man.  _ Never  _ go near _any _clowns, Gabriel. _Ne__ver. _Okay?"

"Yes, Daddy," Gabe murmurs.

"Okay, time to end the doom and gloom talk!" Richie exclaims, a little too stiffly, and Eddie knows he's gonna hear about it later for pushing their anxieties onto Gabe. "We still got a couple more blocks to hit, you nerds, and if we don't get a move on, Ed's little legs will never make it in time."

"Oh, screw you, fuckwad," Eddie says, but he's properly distracted from the clown and the fear. He  _ knows  _ they've killed Pennywise for good. Logically, he  _ knows  _ that. The knowledge doesn't stop him from jumping at pretty much every clown he sees all night but, luckily, the same is true for the rest of the Losers, and they end up calling it a night early.

"How's everyone feel with a sleepover?" Bill asks, like they're fourteen and not forty. Though, it's not like it's out of the ordinary; most of them slept over Bev and Ben's place just last week.

Eddie glances over at Richie, who's got both Gabe and Leah sleeping against his chest, one in each arm. He grins at Eddie when they make eye contact.

"Sounds good," Eddie says. He reaches out, and Richie tips himself to the side, gingerly passing Leah over to him. Eddie takes her easily, tucking her against his shoulder.

"You two just look…  _ shockingly  _ alike," Mike comments. "Seriously. It's… sort of eerie."

"Isn't it?" Richie asks. He looks Eddie over, then ducks his head down to look at Leah. "It's the eyes. Big ol' Bambi eyes—"

"Okay, time to go," Eddie insists. "Bedtime, Halloween is over—"

"Halloween is not  _ over,  _ we still have to watch a Halloween movie and eat some of the candy," Richie reminds him.

"That's what  _ kids  _ do on Halloween."

"And? We  _ have  _ kids."

"You're such a fuckhead," Eddie says, utterly charmed. The fucking dumbass clowns are all but at the back of his mind as Richie ducks his head down and rubs their noses together.

"Happy Halloween, Benjamin," Richie murmurs. Eddie's face crinkles up, angry; then, he remembers his costume, but Richie laughs before he can defend himself. "Did you think I called you by the  _ wrong name _ for the first time in  _ forty years?  _ Oh, _ Eds—" _

"I  _ didn't,"  _ Eddie hisses, lying.

"We don't even call  _ Ben  _ by his full name, let  _ alone—" _

"Shut up,  _ shut up,"  _ Eddie spits. Richie kisses him on the nose, the forehead, both cheeks, then his lips.

"Happy Halloween, you little ghoul," Richie tries again. Eddie kisses him a second time.

"Right back atcha, scarecrow," Eddie says. Richie acts wounded before accepting the offered kiss in apology.

**Author's Note:**

> You can talk to me on Twitter at [@nicolelianesolo](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


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